As beautiful and varied as an archipelago, barangay is an elegant new collection of poetry from Adrian De Leon that gathers in and arranges the difficult pieces of a scattered history. While mourning the loss of his grandmother who "lived, loved and grieved in three languages," De Leon skips his barangay, which is both a boat and an administrative unit in the Philippine government, over the history of both his family and a nation. In these poems De Leon considers the deadly impact of colonialism, the far-reaching effects of the diaspora from the Philippines and the personal loss of his ability to speak Ilokano, his grandmother's native tongue. These are spare, haunting poems, which wash over the reader like the waves of the ocean the barangays navigated long ago and then pull the reader into their current like the rivers De Leon left behind.
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can a bangka hold us when the ocean stings your limbs? A PREAMBLE VENUS
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(@wolsakandwynn, 9 November 2021, ebook, 72 pages, ARC from publisher via @edelweiss_squad)
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This is a new poet for me. I decided to read Barangay because I liked the cover plus I like discovering new poets. It took a few poems for me to get into this collection as the style and subject matter is different than the poems I usually read. The poems are impressive, beautifully written, full of haunting images and ideas. An impressive collection.
I live in Irvine in the Scotland with my partner. I work in the Financial Services. I like reading especially Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King. I write fiction and poetry. I enjoy watching TV (Grimm, Torchwood, Doctor Who, Lip Service, The L Word etc). I like to play video games and am a fan of survival horror especially the Silent Hill franchise. I like to watch movies especially horror and anything where someone dies. View All Posts
